FOLDING PRESS

Abstract: A folding press, comprising a frame (1); a fixed beam (2), fixedly connected to the frame; a ram beam (3), carried on the frame to be movable relative to the fixed beam; a force member (4), disposed between the ram beam and the frame for moving the ram beam relative to the fixed beam in order to produce the folding working stroke; a counterblade (5), attached to the fixed beam; a thrust blade (6), attached to the ram beam parallely relative to the counterblade, the counterblade and thrust blade forming a pair of folding blades, a piece of sheet metal being foldable therebetween. The fixed beam (2) and ram beam (3) are disposed to be side by side in horizontal direction, the ram beam (3) is guided to move substantially horizontally, and the force member (4) is arranged to produce a horizontal working stroke of the ram beam, the piece of sheet material to be folded being thus foldable in substantially vertical position between the counterblade (5) and the thrust blade (6).

Description: FOLDING PRESS The present invention concerns a folding press as defined in the preamble to claim 1. In prior art folding presses are known com¬ prising a frame; a fixed beam, fixedly connected to the frame; a ram beam supported on the frame to be movable relative to the fixed beam; a force member, disposed between the ram beam and the frame for moving the ram beam relative to the fixed beam in order to accomplish the folding working stroke; a counterblade, attached to the fixed beam; a thrust blade, attached to the ram beam parallelly relative to the counterblade, said counterblade and thrust blade constituting a pair of folding blades between which a piece of metal sheet can be folded; and a multi-articulate manipulation arm such as a robot or the like, comprising a clamping member for grasping the piece of sheet material which is to be folded and inserting it between the pair of folding blades in predetermined manner. In a typical folding press of this type the working stroke of the ram beam is usually vertical, the throat between the blades thus being horizontal. The problem in the folding press of prior art is that the piece of sheet material to be folded has to be handled and introduced between the pair of folding blades in horizontal position. When the metal sheet is grasped with the clamping member on the manipulation arm and carried in horizontal position into the folding gap between the folding blades, the sheet will bend downward, giving rise to folding errors. The bending of the sheet during the handling step is also problematic for the reason that when programming of the work, i.e., of the functions of folding press and manipulation arm, takes place with the aid of a computer, calculation of the way in which the sheet bends is exceedingly diffi¬ cult because air resistance, and other circumstances, must be taken into account. The object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned. Specifically, the object of the invention is to disclose a folding press in which the piece of sheet metal which is to be folded can be handled with a ma¬ nipulation arm in such manner that the sheet will not bend down and that folding errors due to this phenome¬ non will be avoided. The folding press of the invention is charac¬ terized by that which is stated in Claim 1. As taught by the invention, the fixed beam and ram beam have been disposed horizontally side by side, the ram beam is guided to be movable substantially in horizontal direction, and the force member is arranged to produce a horizontal working stroke of the ram beam, whereby the piece of sheet material to be folded can be folded while in substantially vertical position between the counterblade and the thrust blade. The invention affords the advantage that it enables a piece of sheet material to be folded in ver¬ tical position, whereby the piece of sheet material will retain its straight vertical position and will not bend, and the folding errors caused hereby are avoided. In an advantageous embodiment of the folding press the fixed beam with its counterblade and the ram beam with its thrust blade are substantially vertical. The fixed beam and the ram beam are located in a ver- tical plane and the folding throat, or the gap between the pairs of folding blades, is vertical and opens in lateral direction. In an advantageous embodiment of the folding press the fixed beam with its counterblade and the ram beam with its thrust blade are substantially horizon¬ tal. The fixed beam and ram beam are then in lying position, whereby in one embodiment the folding press may be carried in horizontal position on the structures of the building in which the folding press has been installed, in the height direction at such a distance h from the plane of the floor base that a free space is left below the folding press where one may provide storage space for goods, sojourn and moving spaces for persons, installation space for machines and/or space where vehicles can move. The folding press may in that case constitute a roof-like structure in the upper part of the building, the folding throat opening downward. A folding press in horizontal position may equally be carried on supports close to the floor base of the building in which the folding press is installed, in which case the folding throat opens upward. In an advantageous embodiment of the folding press the folding press comprises a tool storage for thrust blades and counterblades. The tool storage may be disposed in the vicinity of one end of the pair of folding blades, in which case the tool storage contains thrust blades and counterblades in substantially paral¬ lel position relative to their working position on the fixed and ram beams. In an advantageous embodiment of the folding press the manipulation arm is connected to the ram beam. By placing the manipulation arm, e.g. a piece handling robot, in conjunction with the ram beam one achieves that as the robot travels along with the ram beam, its movement has exactly the right direction because when the sheet bends, the clamping member of the robot will move away from the robot all the time. The ram beam makes a firm fixing base for the robot, and its dimensional accuracy in relation to the blades is well preserved. It is a further advantage that when the manipulation arm is mounted on the ram beam instead of the floor, floor space is left free e.g. for place¬ ment of blanks which are going to be folded. In the following the invention is described in detail with reference to the attached drawing, wherein Fig. 1 presents an embodiment of the folding press of the invention, schematically in front view; Fig. 2 shows the section II-II from Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 presents, in perspective, three dif¬ ferent alternative ways of mounting the folding press of the invention. Figs 1 and 2 depict a folding press for fold- ing pieces of sheet material. The press comprises a frame 1, carried on a fixed base, e.g. the floor of a mechanical workshop. A fixed beam 2 has been fixedly connected to the frame 1. The ram beam 3, in its turn, is carried on the frame 1 to be movable relative to the fixed beam 2. The ram beam 3 is moved by means of a force member 4, disposed between the ram beam 3 and the frame 1 for moving the ram beam 3 relative to the fixed beam 2 in order to accomplish the folding working stroke. To the fixed beam 2 is attached an elongated, and beam-like, counterblade 5. In opposition to the counterblade, an elongated and beam-like thrust blade 6 is attached to the ram beam 3, parallelly relative to the counterblade 5. The counterblade 5 and thrust blade 6 constitute a pair of folding blades 5,6, the piece of metal sheet being foldable between them. The piece of sheet is handled with the aid of a multiple-articulated manipulation arm 7, which is for instance a programma¬ ble industrial robot or the like. The manipulation arm 7 comprises a stand 10, relative to which the manipula- tion arm 7 is carried to be rotatable, and the stand 10 is connected to the ram beam 3. The robot comprises a multiple-articulated set of arms, comprising arms 11, 12, 13 rotatable in relation to each other, and on the end of the last arm 13 is provided a clamping member 8 for grasping the piece which is to be folded and for introducing it between the pair of folding blades 5,6 in predetermined manner. The rigid, and slab-like, fixed beam 2 and ram beam 3 are in this example disposed in vertical posi¬ tion and side by side in the horizontal direction, the ram beam 3 is guided to be movable horizontally, and the force members 4 are arranged to produce the hori¬ zontal working stroke of the ram beam 3, whereby the piece of sheet to be folded can be folded in .substan¬ tially vertical position between the counterblade 5 and the thrust blade 6. In Fig. 1 is also seen a tool storage 9, be¬ longing to the folding press, for thrust blades 6 and counterblades 5. The tool storage 9 has been disposed to be close to one end of the pair of folding blades 5,6. The tool storage is a revolving tool magazine. The tool storage 9 contains thrust blades and counterblades 5,6 in positions substantially parallelling their work¬ ing position on the fixed and ram beams. The tool stor¬ age 9 is advantageously disposed within reach of the manipulation arm 7 so that exchange of thrust blades and counterblades can be made with the aid of the ma¬ nipulation arm 7. In a vertical folding press the blades 5,6 can advantageously, utilizing the manipula¬ tion arm 7, be dropped directly from the tool magazine 9 downward into a respective fixing groove provided on the fixed and/or ram beam. If the blades are such which are assembled of pieces, identical or mutually differ¬ ent, such blade pieces may be dropped into their fixing grooves in succession according to the so-called pearl string principle. When the tool magazine is of the revolving type, the blade fixing groove on the fixed and/or ram beam and the corresponding groove in the tool magazine are brought into register so that, in a way, the fixing groove on the fixed or ram beam contin¬ ues up into the tool magazine, and the tool magazine is merely rotated so as to present the proper continuation groove which holds the blade that is required. It is possible to select blades from the magazine for attach- ment both to the ram beam and to the fixed beam. Fig. 3 shows three different modes of instal¬ ling the folding press. Mode I is equivalent to the vertically positioned example of Fig. 1. The folding press may in addition be installed e.g. in accordance with installation modes II and III, in both of which the fixed beam 2 with its counterblade 5 and. the ram beam 3 with its thrust blade 6 are substantially hori¬ zontally oriented. In installation mode II, the folding press is carried in horizontal position in the vicinity of the floor base of the building in which the folding press is installed, in horizontal position, the throat between the folding blades 5,6 opening upward. In in¬ stallation mode III, the folding press is carried in horizontal position, in the height direction of the building in which the folding press is installed at a distance h from the plane of the floor base such that there remains free space below the folding press, in which case the throat between the folding blades opens downward. It is essential in all installation modes I- III that they enable the piece of sheet material which is to be folded to be kept vertical during the folding process. In addition to the embodiments presented here by way of example, the scope of the invention also encompasses the intermediate installation positions between vertical and horizontal, for instance also those positions in which the ram beam and horizontal beam are located in a plane which subtends an angle with the horizontal plane. The invention is not exclusively delimited to concern the embodiment examples presented in the foregoing: numerous modifications are feasible within the scope of the inventive idea defined by the claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A folding press, comprising a frame (1); a fixed beam (2), fixedly connected to the frame; a ram beam (3) , carried on the frame to be movable relative to the fixed beam; a force member (4), disposed between the ram beam and the frame for moving the ram beam relative to the fixed beam in order to produce the folding working stroke; a counterblade (5), attached to the fixed beam; a thrust blade (6), attached to the ram beam parallelly relative to the counterblade, the counterblade and thrust blade forming a pair of folding blades, a piece of sheet metal being foldable therebe¬ tween; and a manipulation arm (7), such as a robot or the like, comprising a clamping member (8) for grasping the piece to be folded and introducing it between the pair of folding blades in predetermined manner, charac¬ terized in that the fixed beam (2) and ram beam (3) are disposed side by side in horizontal direction, the ram beam (3) is guided to move substantially in horizontal direction, and the force member (4) is arranged to produce a horizontal working stroke of the ram beam (3), whereby the piece of sheet material can be folded in substantially vertical position between the counter- blade (5) and the thrust blade (6). 2. Folding press according to claim 1, char¬ acterized in that the fixed beam (2) with its counter¬ blade (5) and the ram beam (3) with its thrust blade (6) are substantially vertical. 3. Folding press according to claim 1, char¬ acterized in that the fixed beam (2) with its counter¬ blade (5) and the ram beam (3) with its thrust blade (6) are substantially horizontal. 4. Folding press according to claim 3, char- acterized in that the folding press is carried in hor¬ izontal position in the height direction of the build¬ ing in which the folding press is installed at such a distance from the plane of the floor base that free space is left beneath the folding press for goods, persons, machines and/or vehicles. 5. Folding press according to claim 3, char- acterized in that the folding press is carried in hor¬ izontal position in the vicinity of the floor base plane of the building in which the folding press is installed. 6. Folding press according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that the folding press comprises a tool storage (9) for thrust blades (6) and counterblades (5). 7. Folding press according to claim 6, char¬ acterized in that the tool storage (9) is disposed adjacent to one end of the pair of folding blades (5,6), and that the tool storage contains thrust blades and counterblades (5,6) in substantially parallel posi¬ tion relative to their working position on the fixed and ram beams. 8. Folding press according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the tool storage (9) is a re¬ volving tool magazine. 9. Folding press according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the manipulation arm (7) is connected to the ram beam (3).

Inventors: ALITALO HANNU, ALITALO, HANNU
Applicants: ALITALO HANNU, ALITALO, HANNU
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B21D5
IPC codes: B21D5